New USPS postal Intl. rates .. Guess I'll be cutting back

[markinottawa]

It appears that the new rates are going to curtail my orders from the US. I'm just far enough away from the border to not have a US postal box like a few people I know have. Some places shipping rates for a single CD to Canda has gone from $2.50 to $7.75. Other places even higher. I expect this will affect Ebay dealers and small artists/labels whose base is small, but world-wide. Julie Slick for one. Check her Facebook page for the story

Here's an opinion piece on how it is affecting indie artists :

http://stereogum.com/1247822/deconst...es/lead-story/

[ItalProgRules]

and now the same government that can't run the postal service will be running health care.

[Progmatic]

It is an interesting problem... clearly USPS could not compete with the Fedex, UPS and DHL type of companies..so they try to get their revenue growth from the rates hike....now it is a gamble since they work with the price sensitive market (like indie artists) ..so it may result in lesser demand for their services and therefore ultimately their revenue may actually decline...I am not sure whether there is upside to this story...

[Progmatic]

and now the same government that can't run the postal service will be running health care.

actually finally they are trying to run postal service now as a business...the only question is whether they are not too late already....

[markinottawa]

I'm not supporting the USP in any way, but as it states in the article that a lot of it has to do with "Congress’s 2006 provision in the USPS contract stipulating that they subsidize pension retirement accounts and healthcare benefits upfront for 70 years. " "The provision gives the already ravaged USPS a mere decade to fully pre-fund the benefits of even future employees, some of whom will not even be born until 2058." I don't see how anyone could compete on any level with that sort of demand

[Progmatic]

I'm not supporting the USP in any way, but as it states in the article that a lot of it has to do with "Congress’s 2006 provision in the USPS contract stipulating that they subsidize pension retirement accounts and healthcare benefits upfront for 70 years. " "The provision gives the already ravaged USPS a mere decade to fully pre-fund the benefits of even future employees, some of whom will not even be born until 2058." I don't see how anyone could compete on any level with that sort of demand

agreee..yet you should be familiar with that sort of arrangements ...I am certain that public servents in Canada have tons of those...

[JKL2000]

and now the same government that can't run the postal service will be running health care.

The government running health care? Where did you hear this? That's not at all the effect of the Affordable Care Act, from what I've read.

[Reid]

and now the same government that can't run the postal service will be running health care.

The postal service runs fine. It's congress that fucked it up.

[80s were ok]

I'm not a fan of rate hikes either but everytime they raise rates, there is a flurry of complaining, and then everything runs as normal anyway. And this is coming from someone who sells and ships internationally. So I'm not happy about rate hikes, but it's just part of life and you adjust. As far as the idea of the USPS cancelling Saturday delivery of mail, that I'm not to happy about. I think people will realize that they DO miss it, especially on holiday weekends when there will be mail from Saturday to Monday.

[ronmac]

and now the same government that can't run the postal service will be running health care.

Since you're making this political, let's talk about the fact that the Republicans have gutted the USPS and destined it for financial collapse. We can also talk about the fact that government IS NOT "running healthcare," as your tired, baseless talking point states. The insurance industry is running healthcare and will continue to do so until we throw away the antiquated, inefficient and anti-competitive employer-based healthcare system.

[ronmac]

While I agree that increased rates are unfortunate and could hurt businesses, I also find it amazing how many people complain about the increase in stamps. 46 cents to send a letter 3000 miles is one of the best bargains out there. Frankly, if they doubled the cost, it would still be a steal.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

and now the same government that can't run the postal service will be running health care.

The problem is that the government isn't running the postal service: Republicans forced it semi-private a while back, to make it easier for private companies like FedEx and UPS to outcompete them. Their goal is the total privatisation and/or destruction of the USPS -- which puts the lie to their claim to be Constitutional fundamentalists, since the Constitution mandates a government-run post office.

[strawberrybrick]

and now the same government that can't run the postal service will be running health care.

Who's taking "non-musical" shots now

One thing I can say is that I've had the same PO Box for 13 years now. In that time, I have never lost a package, never had one undelivered; 100% positive record for the Post Office.

[80s were ok]

Who's taking "non-musical" shots now

One thing I can say is that I've had the same PO Box for 13 years now. In that time, I have never lost a package, never had one undelivered; 100% positive record for the Post Office.

yep, in 10 years myself, I can count the number of lost packages on two hands...and with half of those, people were probably lying about not receiving their packages. I guess I'm one of the few who actually feel the USPS does a good job and that not every employee is mean and out to get me. I think the people who complain about the Post Office the most are the ones who never actually deal with them. I do hope they can turn things around and yes, most of there financial issues are due to the requirement of them recording future pension payouts.

[ronmac]

Not my words, but this sums it up quite well:

In 2006, Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.

Since that time, the U.S. Postal Service has been required to make additional payments to the government in the amount of $5.5 billion every year for a 10-year period. This money is to pre-pay the pension funds for the next 75 years, funding the retirement of employees which have yet to be born. No other company has ever been burdened by such a mandate.

The Postal Service has a surplus in the retirement fund by a conservative estimate of $50 billion. Yet, the U.S. Postal Service cannot use that excess money as credit toward its own expenses. Rather, Congress “transfers” that money to fund the government deficit.

USPS does not lobby Congress. Competitors have powerful lobbyists bending the ear and filling the pockets of our politicians. Is it a surprise that the 2006 act placed the USPS into the position of financial loss for the first time in its history – a financial loss which has occurred every year since the imposed Congressional mandate?

USPS receives no tax dollars. It generates all of its funding through sales of stamps and postage.

[Reid]

yep, in 10 years myself, I can count the number of lost packages on two hands...and with half of those, people were probably lying about not receiving their packages. I guess I'm one of the few who actually feel the USPS does a good job and that not every employee is mean and out to get me. I think the people who complain about the Post Office the most are the ones who never actually deal with them. I do hope they can turn things around and yes, most of there financial issues are due to the requirement of them recording future pension payouts.

Unfortunately, none of this matters to some members of congress who will profit nicely from its destruction, which will surely happen due to the bogus Postal Accountability And Enhancement Act.

[ronmac]

I have never had a package lost by the USPS.

[progeezer]

I can say that I've never had any problems whatsoever with the USPS, and the same can't be said for both UPS & Fed Ex at my house.

This thread should not have turned political, but fuck it. Ask both Norwegians and the Dutch (among others) how awful socialized "anything" is.

This third world country I live in still has an awful lot to learn about what to fear imo.

[Brad to the Bone]

It appears that the new rates are going to curtail my orders from the US. [...] Some places shipping rates for a single CD to Canda has gone from $2.50 to $7.75. Other places even higher.

It's mostly the minimum fee that has gone up, so ordering one disk at a time is no good anymore. If you buy 4-6 CDs at a time you shouldn't notice much difference.

Amazon is the worst offender. They raised their international shipping fee from $6.89 per CD to $14.29 per CD (with no 'multi-item' discount), even though according to the USPS website that the actual postage to mail a single CD from the USA to Canada would be $7.35.

[robinslick]

I'm incredibly bummed for Julie but what is amazing is that her fans have stepped up to help. Yes, prog fans are the best. My advice to her was to get in touch with Markus Reuter and Tony Levin and see how they are handling this because I know they have so many international fans. There has to be another way though I think a valuable lesson was learned here. If you want to go the CD route, you'd better use Burning Shed and other companies. Julie is screwed because CDs were part of her Kickstarter campaign so she has no choice. ..she is responsible for mailing out the CDs that were part of her campaign. The other awful thing that happened is that she wanted to avoid Disc Makers and go with a "mom and pop" CD manufacturer who took her for $5,000 in advance six months ago and had they promptly delivered the CDs as promised, she would avoided the huge rate increase. Because of their failure to do their job in a timely manner, she missed the holiday season, selling them on tours, etc. I won't say who they are but again, a lesson learned. In other news, Eric tells me cassettes are making a big come back. That I simply could not believe but the young twenty-somethings all want cassettes and vinyl. So my ancient collection is suddenly hip again

[mozo-pg]

Since you're making this political, let's talk about the fact that the Republicans have gutted the USPS and destined it for financial collapse. We can also talk about the fact that government IS NOT "running healthcare," as your tired, baseless talking point states. The insurance industry is running healthcare and will continue to do so until we throw away the antiquated, inefficient and anti-competitive employer-based healthcare system.

[mogrooves]

Next up: public education. (It's already happening).

[Magic Mountain]

The insurance industry is running healthcare and will continue to do so until we throw away the antiquated, inefficient and anti-competitive employer-based healthcare system.

http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/2...-us/?hpt=hp_c3

[Magnashine]

If we look a little bit further, the initiator of the first bill is the healthcare professionals and the medication prices. The cost of a professional in USA is twice as much as the same professional in Canada and drug is about 35% higher in the States. In general, our wait time in emergency room or specialist could compare. I know, some will say it is faster to get treated in the states but that is only true if you have money to pay. They usually leave the uninsured/without the money out of the calculation which should be included in my opinion to better reflect the reality. Since insurance is based on consumption, higher the prices are, higher it cost. Personally i am disgusted to see some practice over here in our medical system. A lot of Physicians are vonluntary jamming the emerency room. I sat 2 days in a clinic of about 50 physicians where only 2 physicians were available on 2 separate shifts. In front of me was a sign of 4'x6' where it said the clinic offers dermabrasion, lifting and all that cosmetic crap (cost isn't regulated for that). I say leave the cosmetic to the cosmetician and be a physician. Dentists aren't any better, I found out once they have 2 prices (insured vs uninsured), tried to explain them that I was the one paying the insurance and that price difference was affecting my insurance cost. Got away with it when i menace them to tell the insurance company about that fact and having all the proof on paper.

Medication should cost less in USA as the population is 10 times greater than in Canada. Volume production, transport fees and r&d should advantage the US population...but it isn't the case.

[JKL2000]

BTW, if you ever want to have fun riling up a bunch of postal workers from the safety of your home, post something inflammatory on alt.snail-mail. I've actually only posted real postal-related questions and comments there, but they always stir up hatred and craziness from some postal workers. I use the newsgroup as an information source about postal issues, but it seems to be used more heavily (though it's not used THAT heavily) by postal workers who want to vent, and seem close to the point of going "postal." It doesn't take much to set them off.